What if? What if the Lake of Fire was just outside of Cleveland? What if people went there before they died and not after? What if we could get in a car and drive to Ohio to witness the suffering of the lost firsthand? What if everyone who hadn’t believed in Jesus by the age of thirty was cast into the Lake of Fire and there was no second chance after three decades on earth?
If this fictional scenario was factual reality then convincing every person on the planet under the age of thirty to believe in Jesus would become the greatest social justice movement in the history of the world. Churches would line up to throw resources behind this urgent and immediate cause. Christians would share the gospel to the younger generation with boldness, passion and urgency.
Well, the Lake of Fire is not just outside of Cleveland, but it is just on the other side of the border to this life. The Lake of Fire is not the immediate consequence for every thirty year old, but it is the wages for everyone who has ever sinned no matter what their age (Romans 6:23.) Every person on this planet is just one breath away from heaven or hell at every second of every day. In light of this brutal reality we must use our every breath to convince every one within our reach to believe in Jesus before it’s too late. We must embrace sharing the gospel with everyone as the greatest cause in human history.
“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:11-15
